Sport

Premier League chief confident clubs will play fair

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore is confident the competition’s clubs will conform to UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

The European governing body’s regulations, which come into full effect in 2013-14, state clubs must break even over a three-year period.

The rules are being introduced to prevent clubs spending more than they earn in pursuit of success.

Chelsea and Manchester City have been two of the heaviest spenders of recent times but Scudamore expects them to meet the requirements.

Scudamore said: “If you look at what has happened with Manchester City's latest accounts, when you see what has happened with Chelsea's, there has clearly been some action taken by those clubs to get themselves into the zone where they should be able to qualify.

“If you look at the trajectory and direction of the revenue - it is about not making losses and one of the easiest ways of not making a loss is to increase your revenue.

“When you look at the way they are increasing their revenue, and you look at the way we will be increasing their revenue through television deals, there is a direction of travel here that makes it eminently possible.

“robably we will see the clubs just about get there. It will be tight for a couple but we will all get there."

City announced last November their pre-tax losses for 2011-12 were, at £93.4million, half that of the year before while revenue had increased by 51 per cent to £231.1million.

Last month Chelsea announced they had recorded a profit, for the financial year ended in June 2012, for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

It was also revealed last year that revenue from the latest Premier League domestic and global TV rights would top £5billion for the first time.

Scudamore said: “It will be tight for Chelsea and Manchester City.

“That is fairly obvious when you look at the sustained losses they have had over the last few years, but I know the executives there are working hard and are not ignoring it.

“They are not burying their heads in the sand and saying ‘this is not happening’.”